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{{Cquote|The Senator from Illinois demanded, loudly, that I furnish all the names. I told him at that time that so far as I was concerned, I thought that would be improper; that I did not have all the information about these individuals. . . .I have enough to convince me that either they are members of the Communist Party or they have given great aid to the Communists: I may be wrong. That is why I said that unless the Senate demanded that I do so, I would not submit this publicly, but I would submit it to any committee - and would let the committee go over these in executive session. It is possible that some of these persons will get a clean bill of health. . . .}}

{{Cquote|The Senator from Illinois demanded, loudly, that I furnish all the names. I told him at that time that so far as I was concerned, I thought that would be improper; that I did not have all the information about these individuals. . . .I have enough to convince me that either they are members of the Communist Party or they have given great aid to the Communists: I may be wrong. That is why I said that unless the Senate demanded that I do so, I would not submit this publicly, but I would submit it to any committee - and would let the committee go over these in executive session. It is possible that some of these persons will get a clean bill of health. . . .}}

McCarthy is said by some to have made the claim, "I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party."<ref>Washington Post (February 12, 1950).''Washington Post, February 12, 1950; McCarthy's speech in Wheeling & letter to President Truman are cited in the article titled "Security Risks" to the lower left of the photo''. Washington Post[http://www.conservapedia.com/images/thumb/4/49/Washpost1950.jpg/250px-Washpost1950.jpg]</ref> This alleged statement was made only about his speech in Wheeling, WV and not in the other cities where he made a speech addressing the issue of subversion in government.  The 205 number came in another part of his speech. On February 20, 1950, in a speech made on the floor of the Senate, McCarthy officially clarified the issue:

McCarthy is said by some to have made the claim, "I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party."<ref>Washington Post (February 12, 1950).''Washington Post, February 12, 1950; McCarthy's speech in Wheeling & letter to President Truman are cited in the article titled "Security Risks" to the lower left of the photo''. Washington Post[http://www.conservapedia.com/images/thumb/4/49/Washpost1950.jpg/250px-Washpost1950.jpg]</ref> This alleged statement was made only about his speech in Wheeling, WV and not in the other cities where he made a speech addressing the issue of subversion in government.  The 205 number came in another part of his speech. On February 20, 1950, in a speech made on the floor of the Senate, McCarthy officially clarified the issue:

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McCarthy was able to characterize President Truman and the Democratic party as soft on or even in league with the Communists. McCarthy's allegations were rejected by Truman who was unaware of [[Venona project]] decrypts which corroborated [[Elizabeth Bentley]]'s debriefing after her defection from the Communists.

McCarthy was able to characterize President Truman and the Democratic party as soft on or even in league with the Communists. McCarthy's allegations were rejected by Truman who was unaware of [[Venona project]] decrypts which corroborated [[Elizabeth Bentley]]'s debriefing after her defection from the Communists. Because of the Truman Administration being unaware of Venona, many of the guilty people escaped under the cloak of "McCarthyism".

McCarthy's support and popularity peaked in early 1954 when a January 1954 Gallup Poll showed that 50 percent of the respondents had a generally "favorable opinion" of him. McCarthy was also fourth on the list of the "most admired men".<ref>

McCarthy's support and popularity peaked in early 1954 when a January 1954 Gallup Poll showed that 50 percent of the respondents had a generally "favorable opinion" of him. McCarthy was also fourth on the list of the "most admired men".<ref>

On February 7, 1950, three days before McCarthy's acclaimed Wheeling West Virginia speech, Hoover testified before House Appropriations Committee that [[Glossary_of_espionage_terms#Counterintelligence|counterespionage]] requires "an objective different from the handling of criminal cases. It is more important to ascertain his contacts, his objectives, his sources of information and his methods of communication" as "arrest and public disclosure are steps to be taken only as a matter of last resort." He concluded that "we can be secure only when we have a full knowledge of the operations of an espionage network, because then we are in a position to render their efforts ineffective." <ref>[http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/foxpaper.htm In the Enemy’s House: Venona and the Maturation of American Counterintelligence], John F. Fox, Jr., FBI Historian, Presented at the 2005 Symposium on Cryptologic History, 10/27/2005. </ref>

On February 7, 1950, three days before McCarthy's acclaimed Wheeling West Virginia speech, Hoover testified before House Appropriations Committee that [[Glossary_of_espionage_terms#Counterintelligence|counterespionage]] requires "an objective different from the handling of criminal cases. It is more important to ascertain his contacts, his objectives, his sources of information and his methods of communication" as "arrest and public disclosure are steps to be taken only as a matter of last resort." He concluded that "we can be secure only when we have a full knowledge of the operations of an espionage network, because then we are in a position to render their efforts ineffective." <ref>[http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/foxpaper.htm In the Enemy’s House: Venona and the Maturation of American Counterintelligence], John F. Fox, Jr., FBI Historian, Presented at the 2005 Symposium on Cryptologic History, 10/27/2005. </ref>

McCarthy is said by some to have made the claim, "I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party." The famous "List", as it has come to be known, has always engendered much controversy. The figure of 205 it appears to have come from an oral briefing McCarthy had with Hoover regarding espionage suspects the FBI was then investigating.  The FBI had discovered on its own five Soviet agents operating in the United States during World War II; defector Elizabeth Bentley further added another 81 known identities of espionage agents; Venona materials had provided the balance, and by the time a full accounting of true name identities was compiled in an FBI memo in 1957, one more subject had been added to the number, now totaling 206. <ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/FBI_Synopsis_on_%22Operations_of_the_MGB_Residency_at_New_York,_1944-45%22 FBI Memo Referencing 206 Communists in Government]</ref>

Regarding the claim made by some that McCarthy stated, "I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party." The famous "List", as it has come to be known, has always engendered much controversy. The figure of 205 it appears to have come from an oral briefing McCarthy had with Hoover regarding espionage suspects the FBI was then investigating.  The FBI had discovered on its own five Soviet agents operating in the United States during World War II; defector Elizabeth Bentley further added another 81 known identities of espionage agents; Venona materials had provided the balance, and by the time a full accounting of true name identities was compiled in an FBI memo in 1957, one more subject had been added to the number, now totaling 206. <ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/FBI_Synopsis_on_%22Operations_of_the_MGB_Residency_at_New_York,_1944-45%22 FBI Memo Referencing 206 Communists in Government]</ref>

Much confusion has always surrounded the subject.  While the closely guarded FBI/Venona information of identified espionage agents uses the number of 206, McCarthy in his Wheeling speech only referred to Communist Party membership, and not espionage activity.  Being a security risk as a CPUSA member does not necessarily entail or imply that a person was or is actively involved in espionage activity.  Venona materials indicated a very large number of espionage agents remained unidentified by the FBI.  When McCarthy was questioned on the number, he referred to the Lee List of security risks, by which it appears Hoover was attempting to match unidentified code names to known security risks. Hoover kept the identities of persons known to be involved in espionage activity from Venona evidence secret. Hoover in the very early days of the FBI's joint investigation with the [[Army Signals Intelligence Service]] in May of 1946 did precisely the same deception with a confidant of [[President Truman]] using Venona decryptions.  Hoover reported that a reliable source revealed “an enormous Soviet espionage ring in Washington.” Of some fourteen names, [[KGB|Soviet agents]] [[Alger Hiss]] and [[Nathan Gregory Silvermaster]] were listed well down the list. The name at the top was “Undersecretary of State [[Dean Acheson]]” and included others beyond reproach, thus discrediting the Hiss and Silvermaster accusations, which actually were on target. Hence the Truman White House always suspected Hoover and the FBI of playing partisan political games with accusations of various administration members’ complicity in Soviet espionage. <ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/foreword.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Chairmans Forward], 1997.</ref>

Much confusion has always surrounded the subject.  While the closely guarded FBI/Venona information of identified espionage agents uses the number of 206, McCarthy in his Wheeling speech only referred to Communist Party membership, and not espionage activity.  Being a security risk as a CPUSA member does not necessarily entail or imply that a person was or is actively involved in espionage activity.  Venona materials indicated a very large number of espionage agents remained unidentified by the FBI.  When McCarthy was questioned on the number, he referred to the Lee List of security risks, by which it appears Hoover was attempting to match unidentified code names to known security risks. Hoover kept the identities of persons known to be involved in espionage activity from Venona evidence secret. Hoover in the very early days of the FBI's joint investigation with the [[Army Signals Intelligence Service]] in May of 1946 did precisely the same deception with a confidant of [[President Truman]] using Venona decryptions.  Hoover reported that a reliable source revealed “an enormous Soviet espionage ring in Washington.” Of some fourteen names, [[KGB|Soviet agents]] [[Alger Hiss]] and [[Nathan Gregory Silvermaster]] were listed well down the list. The name at the top was “Undersecretary of State [[Dean Acheson]]” and included others beyond reproach, thus discrediting the Hiss and Silvermaster accusations, which actually were on target. Hence the Truman White House always suspected Hoover and the FBI of playing partisan political games with accusations of various administration members’ complicity in Soviet espionage. <ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/foreword.html Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy, Chairmans Forward], 1997.</ref>